Afif Naeimi, the seventh and last imprisoned member of Baha'i
leaders in Iran known as the Yaran,
returned to Rajaee Shahr Prison near Tehran on April 23, 2018, at the end of his
medical leave despite suffering from life-threatening ailments.

His wife Shahla Khalaji informed the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on
May 1 that the judiciary's own medical experts had ruled that the 57-year-old is
too ill to be incarcerated.

Naeimi, who has completed his 10-year prison sentence, should have been released
by now but the judiciary has extended his term by more than nine months-the
period he was out of prison on furlough receiving
medical treatment.

"In the past year, my husband came out of prison on two occasions based on a
determination by the judiciary's medical commission that he has illnesses that
cannot be cured and need to be controlled with medications under doctor
supervision," Khalaji said.

She added that Naeimi's heart muscle has dangerously thickened, a condition
known as hypertrophy, and he is afflicted with Syncope disease, which causes
temporary losses of consciousness.

"We want the time he spent receiving treatment outside the prison to be counted
as time served under his sentence," Khalaji told CHRI.

"There's a danger that my husband could lose consciousness at any moment and I'm
worried that, God forbid, it might happen when he's in the shower or alone in
his cell and he could injure his head and suffer something terrible," she added.

"While he was out of prison, his illnesses were not treated and his life remains
in danger," said Khalaji. "Therefore, it is our expectation that his time on
medical leave will be deducted from his prison term."

Arrested between March and May of 2008, the "Baha'i 7" were each sentenced to 20
years in prison before their sentences were reduced to 10 years imprisonment
upon appeal. They were all convicted on several national security charges,
including "collaborating with enemy states," "insulting the sacred" and
"propaganda against the state."

Iran's Constitution does
not recognize the Baha'i faith as an official religion. Although Article 23
states that "no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a
certain belief," followers of the faith are denied many basic rights as one of
the most severely persecuted religious minorities in the country.

"Mr. Naeimi is the last member of the Yaran who is still in prison, even though
his prison term has legally ended," Padideh Sabety, a spokesperson for the
Baha'i International Community (BIC) in London, told CHRI on May 8.

"It is dangerous to keep him in prison because he is suffering from severe heart
disease and has lost consciousness in his cell on many occasions," she added.

"Despite these circumstances, he was returned to prison and in recent days his
heart condition has worsened and needs to be under medical watch
round-the-clock," said Sabety.